Four Paths Aligned
by VampireVampyre
Summary: Co-written with Dessoestma. Two Assassins wake in a new place and are now in the company of two men, two strange men they had learned about in their history lessons. They have no idea what happened to them or how the men arrived but they now have a new mission, to escort them back to base and figure out what happened. But what happens when things don't go to plan?
1. Chapter 1

**Four Paths Aligned Chapter 1**

**{A/N:**

**VampireVampyre: Hello guys and welcome to a new co-lab story! We've been doing it in our PMs for a while now and decided to actually make it a story.**

**Dessoestma: I am writing the Ezio/Desso bits and Vampire is writing the Vea and Altair bits. **

**VampireVampyre: Please don't hesitate to review and tell us what you think and we hope you enjoy!}**

**Vea**

"Aw where is it?" Vea said while hanging upside down from her bed looking on the floor underneath the mattress trying to find her other boot. "C'mon boot I don't have all day!"

Suddenly she saw it across the other side of the floor space under her bed. Now at this point, any normal person would get up and walk around the other side of the bed to get it.

Not Vea.

Vea tried to stretch to get it which resulted in her slipping and falling on her back under the bed.

There was a brief pause before her laughter filled the air. She just laid there for a few minutes, laughing at her own actions before moving to get her boot and crawling back out from under the bed.

After many more minutes of laughing her head off she finally calmed down enough to actually put the other boot on and also put on her hooded jacket.

"Done, done and done yay YouTube here I come!" she said going over to her desk and sinking into her chair curling her legs up in front of her and loading it up. Only a few moments later she was squealing in delight at a clip of a baby doing very cute things.

"That's so cuuuute!" she said smiling, she was a sucker for things like that even though she was an Assassin in the midst of training.

She was, however, completely contrasting to many of her fellow Assassins in the sense that she couldn't really be serious for long periods of time. That's why Desso was made her partner, aside from her being Vea's friend, to keep her focussed and as serious as she could be for as long as she could. Her pre-mission rituals of watching clips like this also helped her as she got to release some of her childlike nature before the mission and before she got into trouble - again.

"Vea!" Caleb said bursting into the room, interrupting her cute clip watching and running up to his big sister with a large smile on his face.

"Hey Caleb," she said picking him up as he stretched his small arms out to her. "what have you been up to?"

"I found a large sea monster and I need you to help me defeat it!" he said with excitement. Vea looked at him in his pirate costume and smiled before putting him down.

"Alright," she said with her sailor accent, stifling a laugh at her brother's excellent imagination. "where to cap'n?"

"Follow me!" he said taking her hand and pulling her in the direction of his room.

When she entered, she saw that he had pushed his small bed to one side and placed all of his bed sheets and duvet in the centre of the room in one crumpled lime green pile.

This was not the first time Vea and Caleb had encountered such a monster so they knew exactly what to do.

"Cap'n you go man the cannons while I steer the _Flaming Dragon _towards the thing." She said giving him a salute and pretending to steer 'the ship' before diving under the pile of bed sheets and becoming the monster itself.

Caleb laughed when she pulled him in her grasp and tickled him as he kicked and tried to get away. She obviously dropped him and gave a roar when Caleb made the sound of a sword slicing at her 'tentacles'.

Caleb scrambled back on-board his mighty ship and prepared to fire the cannons at the Vea monster. He gave a small battle cry before the cannons fired.

After a few more roars, Vea gave a final screech before curling up in a ball on the floor covered with the mass of sheets where she laid completely still until Caleb came to investigate.

"Vea?" he asked quietly and slightly scared as he lifted the sheets carefully to see his sister lying there with her eyes closed. He lightly poked her cheek and suddenly her eyes opened and she pulled him once more into her grasp and tickled him as he screamed in fear and delight. He squirmed but she wouldn't let go as he continued to laugh.

"Daddy help!" he cried as he saw his dad stand at the doorway.

Vea looked to the door too and saw her dad standing there looking at her with a slightly annoyed expression on his face. She stopped tickling Caleb and hugged him instead for a moment before letting him up and standing up herself.

"Dad you may want to step out of the room before you drown. You do realise your in the middle of a large ocean right?" Vea said jokily as Caleb stood beside her and smiled at their dad.

"Vea have you finished preparing for the mission?" he asked, not finding her joke at all funny as his serious expression remained.

"Yeah," she said looking at her dad with a smile. "all done."

"Are you sure?" he asked in a way that made Vea unsure. "How are you going to defend yourself against them then?"

"Well I would just-" Vea started before realising she actually hadn't found or equipped her weapons. "Oops." She said before chuckling at that.

"I thought so," Her father said with his usual frown as he crossed his arms. "now go get ready. You don't have that much time."

"Aw but Daddy, Vea has to help me defeat more monsters!" Caleb whined pouting with his cute childish face.

"Vea can help you with that when she gets back, this is more important I'm afraid. Why don't you go and find Mommy and ask her if you can watch some TV?" he said walking over to Caleb and crouching down in front of his son.

Caleb nodded and ran off to find his mum and watch his favourite kid's programmes.

"Off you go Vea."

"Okay." Vea said nodding to her dad and passing him to go back to her room.

"_I can't make you love me,_" she said, singing along to one of her favourite ballads. She closed her eyes as she did, fully enveloping herself in the mood of the song and the words she sung."_if you don't. You can't make your heart feel something it won't._"

Vea's passion was with acting but she liked to sing too, singing was nice and it relaxed her as much as acting or watching videos did.

Her mind was so distracted by the music that she did not hear the sound of the door quietly opening and closing nor did she turn and look at the person who was creeping into the room with almost silent footsteps; her voice drowned out any possible sound as the person came closer.

The last thing she remembered was opening her eyes before her vision turned dark and they closed again.

**Desso**

"Hey Mark. Come over here a minute?" Desso asked as she looked over her shoulder at the young man on the opposite side of the room to her.

"You need some of my skillz?" He asked playfully. Desso just rolled her eyes.

"Yes I need some of your 'skillz' but can you just get your ass over here?"

"You got MJ again?" He asked as he leant over Desso and started to typed on the computer in front of her.

"Can you say the full word and not an acronym please? You use them to much." Desso replied dryly.

"Okay then. You got Mission Jitters? Like you're nervous for your next mission or current one." He said back, he glanced over the shoulder at Desso and smiled sympathetically.

"I'm not nervous for myself, just Vea." Desso stated flatly.

"Is what the master said true?" Mark said as he resumed his work on the computer.

"'Nothing is true.' "Desso replied, with an underlie of venom in her tone.

"Is it?" He persisted. Desso was quiet for a minute.

"Yes." She replied. "Now hurry up and do this shit before I call in Simon, he would do it without interrogating me." She spat. He quickly typed something in, there was a beeping noise and he moved away from the screen.

"All done." He said with a smile. Desso just pushed him away and got to do her duty. CTTV duty. She would mutter occasionally about how she wanted to kick Mark's ass and sometimes about her friend. Vea.

After some hours of staring at some rather uninteresting stuff, Simon tapped her on the shoulder to say her shift was over. Desso literally jumped up, she had been staring at a screen for hours.

"Sorry for scaring you." Simon said with a slightly chuckle in his breath.

"Shut up Simon. Now, sit on your ass and stare at this screen for about 5 hours until someone decides to come relieve you." Desso half snapped, half growled at him. The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile as Desso stalked out of the room.

She got out of the dark room and stumbled into someone. She jumped backwards and took in who it was. She immediately fell to her knees into a kneel. In front of her stood the Grandmaster of the Assassins.

"Hello Master." She said politely, letting her voice become soft and friendly around the man.

"Hello Desso." The Master said curtly. "Follow me." He turned on his heels and started to walk away, expecting her to follow. Which she did. Desso coughed a little and then said.

"Is there anything wrong Master?" She asked sincerely. She was never called by him often, never during a mission prep either. He had his hands linked behind his back and just in general radiated power and knowledge. As if he had more than one lifetime of experience.

"I was wanting to talk to you. About this mission and about your... evasive behaviour." His tone ended with a bit of a sour note. Desso swallowed slightly and pulled on the collar of her over-coat, wishing she could put up her hood.

"I'm not being evasive. I thought I was allowed a little time to think about it." She said, her voice was even, her face straight, only her body showed any sign of nerves. Increasing her warmth and making her cheeks flush slightly. The Master glanced at her and let himself smile inwardly but made sure to keep his face straight.

"You are. You have had... let's say one month now. I've got all your newly adjusted weapons, I just wanted you to see them before you decide fully." The Master said smoothly.

Desso nodded her head obediently as she trailed behind the Grandmaster.  
Once at the room, the master opened the door and gestured for her to step inside. She did so, quietly and didn't look up at the weapons that were laid plainly on a table in the middle of the room.

"Take them. For once, I'll let it set in slowly. Get used to these weapons. And after this mission. I will grant you the full rank." He paused for a moment to level Desso in the eye with an icy glare.

"Whether you like it or not." He finished and swept out of the room. Desso gulped slightly and withdrew her sword from it's sheath and placed it on the table next to the scabbard and took the new one.

The only difference between the swords were the patterns woven into the hilts, her old one was a just plain blank and the new one had a curved crossed pattern that was painted in .

She carefully picked up the new hidden blade, examined it and managed to activate the trigger before attatching it to her wrist, as if measuring something and carefully unbuckled the straps and put it slowly on her opposite hand. Her right hand.

She would have to learn how to duel wield slowly, or not at all. She didn't want Vea to find out she was being promoted. Vea was the reason she didn't want to be promoted. She couldn't leave her alone to be a normal ranked Assassin as she walked around as a Master.

It wasn't fair, or so her conscience told her.

She picked up the extra throwing knives and strapped them to her side, an opposite to the other 5 she had. There were some other weapons there, but she left them there and walked out of the room. Vea would notice if she had some of the others, like a gun or a crossbow. She could make up excuses later.

She went out of the room and went to the outside door of the compound and just went for a leisurely walk, to think. She couldn't avoid the Mentor forever. She had to accept she was going to be promoted. She didn't want this promotion, but part of her said she did.

_Shut up brain!_ She snapped at herself. _Focus on the details of the mission._

She breathed in through her nose to calm herself and then started to recite the details in her head.

_In about a week, you are off to London with Vea for some general scouting on the Templar compound there, the second major base for them. You are to try to kill some of the main guys, like Stuart Eate or Dilan Delú. If we can't then we just blend in and get some general information from them the old fashion way. And maybe use some persuasion to get some Templar informants to spill some lovely information before you spill their blood._

Desso jumped as someone kinda walked into her.

Bits of paper flew around and a book fell onto Desso's foot and she blinked for a moment before trying to get the sheets picked up and the heavy book of her foot. She picked it up and a couple of sheet's up.

"Sorry about that." She apologised to the person in front of her who was still bent down organising the sheets.

"No problem. It was my fault really." The answer came. The voice was quite fluent, which was deep with masculinity and had a slight accent to it.

"Just got back from a mission I guess?" Desso asked as she started to help again.

"Mm-hmm." The person replied.

Desso helped collect the sheets up and passed them to the person who stacked them on top of the heavy book.

"Guess I'll see you around then. The name's Tim." He said as he walked past her. She cast a glance over her shoulder and started to head to the sleeping quarters. She shared a room with her friend Vea, as they were partners.

She unlocked the door but it was empty. Vea was probably still out prepping for her mission, get all the stats they needed and so on.

She walked in and grabbed a backpack from under her bed and started to organise and pack what she needed. She packed some spare weapons and stuff to clean or sharpen them, just in case it was needed. She then got some spare clothes and her spare set of Assassin robes - her sash, her undershirt, her semi-thick trousers, her over coat (the robe sort of thing) and she settled on packing some trainers and wearing her black calf high boots for the trip (currently in her other pair as well). Going to her cleverly hidden spare weapon stash, she took out about 10 throwing knives and put them in the hidden pocket in her bag. After packing a couple of other items, like her earpiece, her spare earpiece (they were really fragile) and a couple of other non-essentials, she zipped up and put her bag on the end of her bed and against the wall so it wouldn't get bumped into or moved.

Desso sat on her bed for a minute, stretched and yawned slightly. She looked down at her watch and saw it was 5:21pm. It wasn't late, but being on CCTV duty made you tired. Constantly watching a screen, for some reason, gave a person fatigue.

Desso rubbed the back of her neck and then rubbed her eyes for a minute before sitting on her bed and leaning against the wall. She closed her eyes for a minute, contemplating a quick nap before rolling onto her feet and stretching her arms.

_Taking a nap is tempting... But I think some lovely exercise shall keep me awake. _

She smiled to herself and then took off her over-coat and folded it and put it on her bed. That left her with a under T-shirt and a mid-arm shirt on top. Heading to the door, she unlocked it again and then locked it behind her. Then, with purpose in her stride, she went towards the training area.

Once there, she did a quick scan around her, nobody was around.

_Busy prepping for missions_, she rationalised.

The training area was simple, just some dummies scattered around in four corners with the middle empty, probably for warm-ups and stretches.

She then stood in the middle of the training field and took in a large intake of breath and started to clear her mind. Dusting away troubles for half an hour so she could spin, manoeuvre, flip and jump, do all that she needed to train. After a half a minute she managed to clear most of her troubles away but one.

Her ever concern for Vea.

In ways it seemed to drive her, but it could also be her weakness.

She exploded into action and sprinted towards the nearest dummy, snapped out her duel hidden blades and when she approached the dummy, she stabbed it in the shoulders and used the blades to flip her over it and let the trigger withdraw as she slid in between its legs in a skid and end up in a crouch. She then turned and did a forward roll and ended up with her blades buried into a dummy's stomach and did a backwards roll. Flicking her wrists back into a relaxed position, her blades retracted as she stood up on her feet.

Quick as a flash, she spun on her heels and started to sprint towards the next set of dummies.

Instead of snapping out her hidden blades, she used her left arm to grab something out of it's sheathe on her right hip. She felt a slight pinch as the 10 inch blade was whipped into the air and at her left side, moving with her in a normal running motion. She simply ran up to the dummy and stabbed it in the shoulder, withdrew the knife and moved away and slowed down and pretending she was stalking the 'men'. She then followed this up by slowly and smoothly moved behind the 'injured' one and stabbed it through the heart with a snarl on her face. Doing a little twirl, she stabbed the one next to it in the face.

She really hoped that the dummies would get exchanged sometime after she finished. She knew she could literally tear them apart.

She then tried to test herself, Desso loved to do it. Test her limits, her strength, her endurance. It made her love being an Assassin. Even though the training was strenuous and tiring, most times she came in from training and collapsed on her bed. And she loved it that way.

Another thing about Desso, when testing herself, she forgot about her surroundings, it was her and the blades and the floor and her 'targets'.

She was so focused on moving right and flowing smoothly that she was deadly. If you stood in between her and a training dummy to get her attention, then you were either lucky to survive or a friend. Vea had nearly learnt that the hard way.

That was why, acting on the feeling of another presence wasn't really in her priorities. In fact, when she threw a curving kick at a dummy and did a back flip to be bit flashy and try to 'trip' another dummy up, is when she just blacked out, her world crashing around her and ceasing to be real.

**Ezio**

Ezio was a known womaniser. Well, not known. It was just a fact.

He would have one-night flings with all the pretty girls and then when they woke up from there beauty 'sleep' he would be gone, fleeing in the dead of the night so that a father might not walk in and send the guards after him. That had happened more than once and he would prefer it if it didn't. Currently, however, it has happening to him again.

He had just been at Cristina's, his current love and a love like no other.

He was drawn to her for no reason. His brother had been saying he was falling in 'love' and that made him even more determined not to visit her often. He hated his brother teasing him and knocked some sense into him the first time he had accused him of _actually_ liking a girl.

He smirked as he ran, the guards were such _idioti_. They could easily over take him and arrest him if they took to the rooftops or even just sped up a little. He took a quick glance over his shoulder and was pleased that they were falling behind. This made him quicken his pace even more as he wanted to get rid of them completely as soon as possible.

No one could deny he was super sexy, athletic and was quite intelligent. Most people thought that he was a no-brainer womaniser, though actually he was quite smart. He never showed it though, kept it hidden underneath his smooth tanned skin. He liked it that way though.

He ran for a little while longer until the shouting of the guards had turned to murmurs and then nothing. He then scanned around quickly for an alleyway, knowing he would find what he needed there.

He found one with ease and quickly scanned the surrounding walls for a quick route to ascend to the rooftops though there were none.

He walked to the edge of the alley and leaned against the wall and feigned ignorance as he scanned quickly, knowing that any sort of free-running or climbing would surely set the guards after him... again.

He found a route that may have been acceptable. A couple of crates that he could swiftly climb within a couple of steps and some metal frames that held wooden banners, making the houses as rich families, middle class or some sort of merchant. From there it was just a short lift away to get onto a rooftop.

He had plenty of muscle to be able to lift himself up like that, and maybe even enough to help a girl up there as well though he had never done so.

With his path known, he sprinted towards and ran up the crates and leapt onto the first banner and carefully got his balance before jumping to the next. From there, he got close to the wall and reached up to the rooftop and steadied his grip and pulled himself up, managing to kick himself fully onto the roof and look around. He could see his family villa in the distance, only a five minute jog away. He let himself find a solid grip on the roof tiles before settling into a crouch, so he could just burst into action. He felt an ominous presence behind him, but instead of looking back, he just sprinted off, assuming it was a guard or one of Vieri's gang members - they had been after him for a long while.

Once he felt the presence recede and reduce down to nothing, he stopped to catch his breath, panting moderately. He had just run a 20 minute sprint, something he hadn't done before. He walked to the next rooftop, which was thankfully flat, so he could sit and rest his legs for a moment.

Looking over at his view of Florence, he took in its everlasting beauty. If he ever went to another city, he swore that they would never compare to his home town - it would be the best, now and forever, for the rest of his life and the life of children. If he had any.

Finished contemplating this, he walked to the edge of the roof and dangled his legs off the side and rested them against the top of a window and look at the water below. He could see the faint shimmer of his reflection in the river. It was quite nice temperature on a day like this. The sun heated his back, making him hotter than he already was. He looked behind for a moment and noted that the roofs were strangely bare.

They were usually regular patrols at this time, so the roofs should be teeming with the uniformed men yet he couldn't see any - not even in the distance. It was strange to say the least.

He got up carefully and a chill ran up his spine. He took another quick look behind him and jumping off the roof, doing a flip and pointing straight down, aiming where he wanted to land in the river.

Unfortunately, he only felt the splash of the pleasingly warm water before his entire vision turned black and he felt a slight pain in his back as his body registered the impact the water caused.

**Altair**

The road to Jerusalem was a relatively long one though it was one Altair had travelled a few times before.

He was on his way to a mission co-ordinated by his Master Al Mualim and he had set up camp at the half way point. It was beginning to grow dark anyway and his horse definitely needed some rest if he wanted to use her the next day.

As he found a suitable spot and tied his horse somewhere where she could drink or each a patch of shrubs if she needed to, he thought over what it was he needed to do and felt almost disgusted because he had to do something so simple. He had the skills of a Master Assassin yet he was sent on a mission only a Novice would usually have to do.

It was, however, his own fault and he knew this no matter how hard he tried to ignore that fact. He had been cocky and careless and had cost them Malik's arm and Kadar's life. The part of him that was not still arrogant felt ashamed that that had happened and that there was some other way that mission could have gone, that one more person would have been still alive. Thankfully for Altair, this part was smaller than the rest which meant that he could go on without breaking down or worrying too much. It was in the past after all and there was nothing he could do to change that.

Once he was satisfied with the small camp he took out what little food he had and ate half, saving the rest for the morning before he set off to Jerusalem once more. He then had a little drink of water and laid down on the small mat he had brought with him for a light rest that would provide enough energy to see him through the next day.

A few hours into his slumber he heard a small sound of disturbance not too far away. His eyes immediately snapped open and he stood up quietly, looking in the direction of the sound. He could not, however, see much because the road was completely pitch black and his fire was nothing more than red embers and ash. His senses still told him that there was a threat present and that meant his hearing had become very honed and sensitive.

The hairs lifted on his body as he now heard nothing but silence. He almost jumped at the sound of a movement from behind him. At first he deemed it to be just his horse but then he shook it off as another feeling of suspicion passed through him. He had not heard a sound from his horse at all during these past few minutes. Something was wrong and he was now trying to get to the bottom of this.

"Show yourself!" He snarled to the darkness around him. He knew it would be useless but he hoped the figure (or maybe figures) would at least move at his words. A few silent seconds passed before he indeed heard the sound of running footsteps. He took out a throwing knife and aimed it correctly at the source. There was a slight gurgling sound as a body dropped to the floor.

He then heard another movement extremely close to him but he was unable to defend himself in time before he felt the world slip away from his grasp and his eyes closed.

**{VampireVampyre: I apologise for the shortness of Altair's part, it did seem longer in my mind!**

**What d'you think? Please review, and tell us!}  
**

**{Edited slightly for spelling, paragraphing etc}**


	2. Chapter 2

**Four Paths Aligned Chapter 2**

**{Please review and tell us what you think :D}**

**Ezio**

The first thing Ezio did when he woke up was massage the back of his head - he had a pounding headache and it felt like it was going to be there for a while. He kept his eyes shut as he tried to lessen the pain in his pounding skull.

Slowly, he moved so he was in a sitting position, he sighed as he realised he would have to go through the day with this headache. He wasn't new to it, but it wasn't a pleasant thing to do. He opened his eyes and stretched preparing to face the new day but froze mid-stretch. Firstly, he was sat on a grassy field in an unknown place. Secondly, there was a girl dressed in strange, masculine clothes lying in front of him.

She was resting on her stomach with her arms folded in front of her, her face rested in them. He could see the slow and steady rise of her body as she breathed in and out. He really didn't remember being near a girl as pretty as this, heck, he didn't even remember falling asleep. He blinked a few times to see if he was imagining it, and then pinched his arm to see if he was dreaming. It just couldn't be possible.

"So I am not dreaming... then how did I arrive here?" He asked himself aloud while still slightly rubbing his head. He was hoping the girl was a light sleeper and would wake up, maybe she knew how they got there. She didn't however and just continued to snore lightly.

She was wearing a strange top that had a hood attached with a beaked tip this she combined with tight black pants. Despite the shock of it, he thought it looked really nice and if she had been awake, and walking, he probably would have been soaking up the view of her exotic clothes and wonderful figure. He could also see a tuft of soft light brown hair poking out of her hood. He carefully reached over and pulled down the woman's hood and got a good first look at her face.

If he thought her figure and her outfit were quite pretty, then he was really breath-taken by her beautiful face.

Her face was relaxed and looked like it was relaxed often as the lines or crinkles in a face that was either tense or frowning weren't there. She had smooth looking skin, so much so that he almost reached out to touch her face but just managed to refrain since he didn't really know her. He looked at her figure one more time before actually looking around him properly for the first time with clearer sight.

He could see some other shapes in the grass a few meters away but he disregarded them as he turned back to the girl and wondered what to do. He resigned to shake the girl's shoulder to wake her up. He'd probably ask how they got here - she might have known. He did it hard enough to rouse her but not enough to make her head slide off of her arms and into the dirt.

She instantly flicked out an arm lazily and grumbled incoherently under her breath. He could just about understand her mumblings, she spoke of something that sound like "Stupid alarm clock" to Ezio. That confused him further and he cleared his throat to make her aware of him.

"Five more minutes Dad." The girl said lazily as she rolled onto her side and curled into a ball. At that moment, a gentle breeze picked and gently caressed the girl's hair making it sway in the wind. Then the woman seemed to tense before sitting up. She looked behind herself, seeming to forget that she had been shaken awake, and was quiet a moment before looking to her left and right and about to get to her feet.

'_She must have noticed those shapes in the grass as well.'_ Ezio thought as he stopped her by putting a hand on her arm. She looked around at him quickly, her glinting brown eyes having revealing a brief flash of confusion. He gave her his cheeky grin before asking:

"_Mi scusi, ma sai come sono arrivato qui signorina?_(Excuse me, but do you know how I got here miss?)"

She seemed to look him over for a minute before relaxing slightly though looked slightly confused. That soon passed though as she looked at him with a happy smile and cleared her throat a moment before speaking.

"_Lei parla inglese signore? (_Do you speak English sir?)" She didn't have the accent he did, it sounded more English than anything else.

"_Si_, I do." He replied. She seemed to invisibly sigh in relief.

"Good I haven't spoken Italian for a while. My accent is terrible." She said with another smile.

"Indeed." He said smugly which caused her smile to turn a little embarrassed. He did not discourage this though as her expression just made her whole face light up with even more beauty.

"Uh... can you let go of my arm now? Please?" She asked now slightly timid. She glanced down at where his hand was still clasping her arm. He let go and took a step back, giving her some space.

"Thanks!" She said, happy once again. From what he had seen, she seemed quite juvenile and energetic despite the fact that she looked around 18 years old. He had never seen someone who acted like that and it interested him slightly. He also thought it rather cute.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. What's your name?" She asked him. He turned his smile into a slight smirk.

"I am Ezio." He said, hoping she might already know the rest of it. It seemed to make all her bubbly energy drain out of her. She then asked a simple question.

"Woah wait, Ezio Auditore da Firenze?"

He let his smirk grow wider.

"_Si_, is there a problem with that?" He asked casually. She seemed to gain back some of her bubbly energy as she opened her mouth to reply but she seemed to think better of it and shut it again. The look on her face seemed to say 'Yes, there is a problem with that' but she didn't seem to want to voice that opinion.

"Is there a problem? You know you can trust me _bella_." He said, pressing her though keeping his voice gentle and friendly. He guessed that her parents knew about him and wanted to keep her as far away from him as possible - he had heard that story plenty of times.

"_Nessun_ _problema _(No problem) at all actually. I just had trouble pronouncing your name." She said simply with a shrug. Ezio cast a glance to the side, where those shapes in the grass were.

"I think this grass likes being slept on." He said with humour and another grin in her direction.

The girl followed his gaze and bit her lip at the sight of them. In seconds she was up and striding over to them with Ezio following behind her. She crouched by the other girl, who was wearing roughly the same garb as her except for difference in colour, and shook her shoulders roughly.

"Des! Dessy! Get up!" She said and he thought that 'Des' was a strange girl's name.

"Fuck off." Came the awake sounding, angry reply which shocked Ezio further.

"Come on Des! I need your help!" The crouching girl whined and dragged Des into a sitting position where she rubbed the palm of her hands into her eyes.

"I swear to God, I am going to kill you one of these days Vea!" Des growled to the girl, Vea.

"You both have the strangest names. And I thought Bianca was a strange name." He muttered trying to get their attention for a moment. The second girl seemed to become more aware of his presence and looked at him, scanning him with critical eyes, before smacking Vea upside the head.

"What the hell?!" Vea said, rubbing the back of her head.

Des said something so fast, in what sounded like English, that Ezio didn't even understand what she said.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? We just woke up about 5 meters away from you and him." Vea said and pointed at the other man.

Des flicked off her hood and now Ezio could see that she had black hair and bright blue eyes. He had only known she was a girl in the first place because of her figure though she didn't have proper curves like most of the women he had seen. She was of a medium height, at around chin height, which he was quite used to seeing but she also looked muscular, boarding on the lean mark which he definitely wasn't used to.

"I _can_ see out of the corner of my eye you know." Des said while looking at the other man. She seemed to be scanning the weapons that were on his back and the sword at his hip. He looked like a mercenary to Ezio except for the white robes he was wearing.

"Ezio right?" She said without even looking at him. She seemed more curious of the weapon wielder than herself being close to him.

"_Si_." He replied.

Vea was looking at the man as well, they both seemed wary but freaked out at the same time and there seemed to be a bit of recognition as well.

"Do you know who he is?" Ezio asked, being bored to just stand at the sidelines. The man was about his height but he looked way more muscular and lean and if his exposed hands said anything, he was of Middle Eastern descent.

"Yes... I think." Des said hesitantly.

"I think this is a huge joke, either that or we've been drugged." Vea said dryly. She directed the comment at Des then seemed to remember Ezio was standing there, confused.

"Oh Ezio, this is Desso." She said walking over to him. She put a hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture and said jokily, "She won't bite. I promise."

"That isn't very comforting Vea." He said with a trace of a chuckle in his tone.

"I know." Vea said in a happy tone. "I'm just waiting for Mark and Simon to jump out at us! I'm also hoping that he is who we think he is." He could see Desso roll her eyes, probably at Vea being quite childish in a serious situation. She seemed to notice him for a second before pulling up the hood that had been draped around her neck.

"If he is, I think I better do this job. I don't think you want to do this do you?" Desso asked at Vea. Vea visibly flinched, grabbed Ezio by the arm and dragged him back a few steps.

"You'll want to move a few paces back." She whispered to him as she did.

"Why?" Ezio asked curiously. Even though that man had all those weapons he couldn't be that dangerous... Right?

He watched as Desso crouched with caution next to the stranger. She reached for the mysterious man's hood and gently pulled it back.


	3. Chapter 3

**Four Paths Aligned Chapter 3**

**Altair**

As soon as he felt his hood being tugged his killer instincts slammed into life. His hand shot out and grabbed the arm that was touching his hood, in a matter of seconds they were being pinned with his sharp hidden blade pinned to their throat - a growl about to rip out of his mouth.

When his brain caught up with him though the growl got stuck in his throat. Under his blade, a pair of feminine blue eyes stared up at him from under their hood with only the slightest hint of surprise in them. Surprise not fear and that shocked him.

The beaked tip of the hood in question would have cast a shadow over the woman's face had it not been for the fact that she was lying on the ground under the bright sun. The fact that a woman was wearing such a thing surprised him the most though he got off her deeming her action to be simply out of curiosity. He uttered a quick apology to the woman in Arabic.

"Yep it's him!" He heard another female voice say in a language that was not his own but he still understood. English. The fact that that voice sounded almost as English as the soldiers sent to attack his country put him on instant alert as he looked to the source of the voice. There was however a slight accent to it which he did not recognise.

The new woman was wearing a black version of the other's hooded robes though the hood was down and he could see her face clearly. She looked to be very young and so Altair brushed off whatever had made him think they were legitimately in the Order.

No Assassin would let such a woman, let alone any woman, into looked too much like a child to look like she had had training and was capable of killing. Altair thought that if she were to see the sight of a murder, she would burst into tears and wail like many women who had had the misfortune of seeing one of his assassinations. Either that or scream and run for the hills.

He was unsure of the reason why they would wear his Order's uniform but he was prepared to listen to whatever excuse they prepared before he ordered them to remove it and return to their less tight and more modest state of dress.

There was, however, another thing that caught his eye that he immediately questioned.

"How did you acquire those weapons?" Altair asked turning back to the first woman and gesturing to the arm onto which the woman's hidden blade was attached – an arm with no ring finger removed from it. "The Order do not employ women to be Assassins."

"In the twenty-first century they do!" the other woman interrupted and that definitely made Altair think that she was a mad woman. That was impossible.

"_Cosa?_ (What?)" the other man said and though Altair couldn't understand what that word meant he made a very educated guess. He felt the same way although he didn't reflect it. "No, no this is the fifteenth century!" the other man interrupted, obviously trying to figure it all out in his head.

"You are mistaken, it is the twelfth." Altair said contradicting the other man and making both men stare at each other in confusion. Proof of what Altair had previously thought impossible was staring straight at him.

"Vea!" the first woman said glaring at the other. The second, Vea, put her hands up in mock surrender.

"What Desso? They had to know sometime!" Vea said and at least now he knew the other's name – Desso.

"There are less blunt ways of saying it though." Desso added and Altair silently admitted to himself that she had a point. A more subtle approach with more evidence would have caused less panic and confusion for the other man. Altair saw the other woman's face and he could tell an argument might occur and he would rather not have to hear all of that at that point in time.

"How do you know what era we are in? We could be in any, there is no physical evidence to prove which." Altair said and he saw Desso's eyes gleam for a moment, it had either been respect or awe of his logic, he could not tell which one it was as it disappeared in a millisecond and then she turned away from him.

"Vea do you have your earpiece?" Desso asked the woman who instantly began to pat and search her pockets in the hope of finding the object they were looking for.

"I think so... damn where is it?" she said with a little frustration. Just as she was saying that Altair saw something small and black fall out of her pocket and onto the grass next to her. The other man saw it and picked it up for her.

"Is this what you were looking for?" he asked the woman as he held up the object. Altair could see he was curious as to what it was and what it did. He admitted to himself that he was slightly curious too, he had never seen something as small and strange looking before.

"Oh yeah thanks, those things are too easy to lose and/or break." She said taking the thing and attaching it to her ear. Altair looked at it in curiosity he didn't see any reason why that thing would need to be there but he decided not to ask and instead wait to see if she showed him what it did. "What do you want me to do with it Des?"

"Try and call base but hang up after it starts ringing. If it does ring then it's the 21st century since I doubt they'd have any signal in the past before they were invented."

Vea looked impressed at that plan and gave a smile before raising her hand to her ear and pressing a button on the device. There was about half a minute of tense silence as all of them waited for the result of whatever it was the woman was doing. To Altair it looked like she was standing there silently for no reason at all.

"What is supposed to be happening?" the man, who Altair had now figured out was Italian, said with a mixture of curiosity and boredom showing.

"Yay it's ringing!" Vea suddenly said before raising her hand again and pressing the device. She was suddenly happy about seemingly nothing.

"Okay so we are in the 21st century, and to answer your question Ezio the earpiece Vea is wearing is used to communicate with our other Assassins over long distances. We hear their voices through the earpiece and they can hear us too." Desso explained and Altair now found out both the Italian man's name and the use of the earpiece which Vea had now put away again.

A question he had thought about earlier popped up again and he now spoke it aloud to Desso.

"So you are Assassins? I was not aware there were any of us in any other country other than my own." he asked Desso, bringing the whole conversation back to its original path. He couldn't help but give Vea a sceptical look when asking if she was indeed an Assassin.

"Hey!" Vea immediately said and he could tell he had just minorly insulted her by questioning her status as an Assassin. "I am actually an Assassin, see?" Vea then quickly unsheathed then sheathed her hidden blade as if to prove the point, this caused the other man to jump and look at her blade in shock. Obviously he wasn't expecting her to have a weapon.

Altair was also curious as to how she worked a hidden blade with her ring finger intact without the blade itself piercing the finger itself. He did not voice this question though, he didn't need too. He assumed it had been modified to stop it doing so. This made him feel slightly jealous that they had not had to go through having their finger removed if they were indeed Assassins –which he still doubted.

_Wearing a blade and knowing how to unsheathe it does not mean that you know how to use it correctly. You can acquire a blade from many places_. He thought silently.

"Vea he doesn't know you, you act pretty different from the normal behaviour of an Assassin, so of course he is going to be sceptical," Desso said to Vea, showing her the reason behind his look. Altair was amazed at how many times he had agreed with this woman in the short amount of time he had been awake.

This had never happened before, he could almost imagine the comments Malik would be giving him about this woman.

"but to answer your question, yeah we are Assassins. We're partners actually. Although I'm beginning to question and regret it now."

"Oh c'mon Des," the woman said with the smile that annoyed Altair. "you love it really, having your little sister around constantly to annoy you." Desso smiled a little at this and Altair looked at it with a little shock.

She did not look like she smiled often but now that she was her face became more attractive – not that Altair would ever admit that out loud. Instead he quickly averted his gaze from her smile before it disappeared and before she noticed he was looking at it in the first place.

"You are sisters?" Altair said as he could not see any resemblance between them like siblings should have.

"We aren't really sisters," Desso explained to him though Altair had known he was right about that. "we're just really close friends. We are sisters in a sense, just not in blood or name. Anyway, yeah in our time there are Assassins based all over the world but the same can be said for the Templars too."

"That is one thing I do not understand. All this talk about 'Assassins' and 'Templars' I don't know what any of it means." Ezio said and Altair's previous theory was proven right like many of his were. Ezio was not an Assassin even if he did look familiar (which Altair also deemed impossible since he was around 400 years into his future).

Altair looked to Desso, to see if she would actually give away the secrets of the Assassin to this regular innocent. She didn't even hesitate in telling him, which shocked him slightly. She looked like she was well behaved, in fact he would expect that kind of behaviour from the other women, Vea.

"Assassins are what we are, we kill the bad people in the world Ezio. We kill those people who make the public slaves, people like you and more ordinary people. These bad people are the Templars, their aim is to save humanity from itself by eliminating free will. We Assassins work against them to preserve the free will of humanity. If there was no free will, then there would be no way for us, as a race, to develop and grow. If we couldn't grow and develop then many of the ideas in modern society wouldn't exist, and then the main problem would be trying to get rid of them, which would be impossible, even now no one can rise to the challenge and eliminate the Templars except us Assassins. We fight for humanity without any payment, and we work in the shadows to complete our tasks." She explained, she even sounded like she had rehearsed that a lot, which wasn't strange in any sense. The other man, Ezio, looked confused but nodded anyway.

Altair wanted to say that revealing these secrets to the man, an innocent and someone who was nothing to do with the Order, was breaking the creed but he held his tongue. He could question this later, preferably out of range of Ezio's ears – if he decided to stay with these strangers.

"What are we going to do now?" Ezio said looking around at the field with obvious dismay. Altair looked at his surroundings and now examined them in more detail.

They were in a grassy field that did not look like farmland since it was not tended to in anyway. The field was slightly sloping and Altair could see some much higher, and steeper, hills just a little way away from their field. The air was warm but it was not as scorching hot as the sun made it in his homeland, to him the heat was rather pleasant.

"We should try and find a high point to see if we can find a town or a forest nearby. If we can't see a town we can just camp out for the night."Desso suggested, he nodded in response though chose to remain silent for the moment. He didn't like the fact that the women were making the decisions, but he wanted to be on their good sides so that he could later dispose of them, and the other man, easily.

"Why don't we travel to those hills over there? Maybe we can find a settlement or even a forest nearby." He suggested, he knew that there was a possibility that there was woodland near here. The lush grass and vegetation proved as much to him.

"Let's have a race! See ya suckers!" Vea said as the women did a mock salute and sprinted off. Desso cursed viciously but sighed in defeat.

"We don't want to lose her. Come on guys." Desso said and the look in her eyes told him she was semi-eager but it also looked like she wanted to gut the other women for her childish actions.

**...**

Altair smirked as he nearly crossed the invisible finishing line they had set for their second race, they had found a forest to camp in nearby, and had managed to make out a small outline of a town in the distance.

He found their first race to be easy, but Vea had gotten a big head start so she had been stood there and waiting for the rest of them. Then for the second one they had all set off at the same time, he had easily managed to pull in front of them, casting only the occasional glance back to see if the others could even attempt to match his pace.

He had turned to see a smirking Desso who was close behind him and had seen that Vea and Ezio were further back. When he had taken a closer look at Ezio he could see he had muscle and he was surprised the other man couldn't outpace the two woman, even if he did have little endurance, their claim of their profession seemed a little more believable at this point.

When he cast a glance over his shoulder, just before he reached his victory, he could see Vea and Ezio still a little further behind him, which was still a surprise however he could see that Vea was controlling her pace to stay at Ezio's slow pace.

He couldn't see Desso and that puzzled him for a moment before he turned back and saw Desso keeping an even pace beside him.

He was sure to keep the surprise out of his expression as he mused over how she was able to keep such a controlled pace - even more so because she was able to keep up with him. As he neared their finish line, he slowed gradually so he wouldn't hit a tree. He felt the rush of the wind around him die and found it slightly uncomfortable as he started to feel the excess heat he had gained from the exercise. He did not let it bother him too much since he was used to much more heat in his homeland.

"_Aspetta_ (Wait)... please."Ezio said tiredly after both him and Vea finished too. Altair could see that the man was out of breath from running though refrained from rolling his eyes or saying something to the rather unhealthy man. Altair had noted that Ezio had not seemed that affected by the first race but was now tired because of the second.

Desso did not say anything but the expression on her face told him that she was as exasperated as he felt.

Vea on the other hand did not seem tired and was not out of breath.

It was slightly amusing to Altair that the only other man present was the one tired and out of breath compared to the two women who he would have guessed would be in his predicament. It was, however, unamusing to note that he had been wrong quite a lot since he had been woken up in this new place –and apparently new era too.

"Are you okay?" Vea asked the man who was now straight again and was only slightly panting though Altair could see some sweat present on his tanned face.

"_Sí _I am fine." He said waving off her concern as they walked to the edge of the forest.

Usually Altair would have now parted from the group but he did not have another place to go and, although he would like to be alone, being stranded in this unknown place all by himself did not seem like the best option. He did not like this alternative but it was the best option available to him.

"It's getting dark, you'll want to set up camp won't you?" Vea said to Desso before looking up at the now peach sky as the sun began it's descent from the sky.

"Yeah, I'll go and collect firewood while you go find a good place to stay. If anyone is hungry later then I can go and hunt." Desso replied as she led the way into the trees.

Again, Altair did not like how the woman was taking charge - it didn't feel right considering the culture he had been brought up in. He didn't say anything for the moment since he wasn't planning on staying with them for long.

"Why can't I go hunt?" Vea asked and Desso gave her a small smirk.

"Because I have seen your hunting skills and they are terrible."

Altair expected Vea to be annoyed by this but instead she rolled her eyes and laughed. He saw Ezio give a slight smile at this but all her laugh did to Altair was annoy him further, it was even more annoying than her voice.

"If you are not a good hunter why hunt?" Altair asked and Vea looked at him with a slightly less childish expression.

"Because I had to, it was part of the wilderness side of our training that we do. It's to make sure we can survive if we end up away from civilisation." She said before shuddering. "I hated it."

"You hate all of your training." Desso pointed out before she stopped and stood still for a moment. "Which you shouldn't because it's important. Be happy about your training."

"What other types of training do you do?" Ezio asked and Vea stopped pouting over what Desso had said.

"Uh stealth, endurance, combat, free-running, surveillance, mountain and wilderness, pick pocketing, blending. Things like that." She said counting the types off with her fingers. A lot of those things sounded familiar to Altair though he could not imagine a woman doing them. He _could_ imagine an Assassin doing them and though that meant they had knowledge, and training, from the Order, he was still reluctant to believe their story of them being part of his Order.

"You have done all of these?" he asked sceptically and once again Desso looked at him.

"Yeah we have, we were born into the Order so started training at a young age." She explained and Altair listened to her, believing her more than her 'sister'.

"Underage in your case." He heard Vea mutter in an audible tone.

"I heard that." Desso replied in a slightly annoyed tone, Altair was surprised he was taking such notice how the woman said things and how she did things. He mused for a moment and just assumed it to be because she was different to the almost silent women of his time and who used a similar logic to himself causing him to agree with her many times.

He immediately stopped this since it was absurd to think he was thinking of her, he had told himself many times that he would not do this. Not after what happened to his Adha. He just slightly shook his head to himself to clear it and instead thought of his home at the Order and pondered whether or not he would be able to return there.

"Fuck!" He heard Vea say and that was enough to break his train of thought altogether. No woman should utter such a thing; that was what caused him to glare at her. Vea looked at him with slight fear before looking away. The other man was looking shocked too and was even speechless.

"Watch your language." Desso said seriously and Altair agreed with her again though he was trying his hardest not to.

"What? You swore earlier too!" Vea countered childishly and Altair resisted the urge to roll his eyes though the woman didn't.

"I was half asleep and you were annoying me." Desso answered with a semi-valid reason.

"_That makes two of us_." Altair thought before pushing the similarity out of his mind before other thoughts would interrupt his short lived peace.

"I've annoyed you for years, I was sure you'd gotten used to it." Vea said with a grin.

"No one can get used to you Vea." Desso said frowning as the girl went over to her and messed up her hair. "Now go and find a place, I'll find you later."

With that the woman turned and walked away from them and headed deeper into the darkening forest. Altair would have preferred to go with her but stopped himself and instead lead the way for the others since no-one else was moving yet.

**{VampireVampyre: Sorry about the delay in updating, this chapter really didn't like either of us and we kept getting stuck on it!**

**Dessoestma: Well it's offical,this chapter hated both me and Vampire, it didn't want to be written! WHY DO YOU HAVE A VENDETTA AGAINST US CHAPTER 3!?}**


	4. Chapter 4

**Four Paths Aligned Chapter 4**

**Desso**

"I'm bored. "

As much as Desso loved her little sister, she was so annoying at times, sometimes it made her think why she'd even managed to make it to being a field Assassin. Desso just ignored her and just looked down at the fire she had built, it hadn't taken her long to find some decent wood and kindling and to find them all again.

"I think these two are too busy staring into the flames to even notice, bella( beautiful)." She heard Ezio say. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and just kept looking at the fire and not even looking at any of them.

"Probably, though it's definitely like Des to be like this. She doesn't like being friendly around company."

"Is it a crime to not socialize Vea?" She said, letting annoyance sink into her tone as she tried to not sigh at what she said.

"Yes, yes it is. It's creepy when people go quiet and it's dark." Vea replied back, this time, Desso rolled her eyes underneath her hood.

"If you're bored why don't you see what weapons you have on you. And tell me, it would be a good use of your time." She heard Vea shuffle a little as she, with no doubt, was patting her sides to check for some of her hidden sheaths and other things.

"Uh I got a dagger, most of my throwing knives and my hidden blade. What about you?" She asked.

Desso herself moved a little to carefully pat her sides and the part of her back that had her throwing knives.

"Got both of my daggers and an extra, five of my throwing knives and my hidden blade." She replied back.

"Aw how come you have three daggers and I only have the one?" Desso shrugged as she shifted back into her original position with her legs crossed. She moved to unsheathe her extra dagger from her hip and placed it on the ground in the general direction of her sister.

"Take that one, I don't need it." She said as she placed it on the ground. She heard Vea scoop it up and put it in a sheathe.

"Thanks big sis." She could practically hear Vea's grin.

"No problemo kiddo." She said with a slight grin on her face.

"You both must be of some rank if you have such weapons, yet you have no swords. Surely you acquired them before your daggers." A deep voice said. Desso lifted her head to look at Altair who was looking at her, she found it strange that he did that. He probably trusted her word more than Vea's and it made her feel a little warm when he did.

"We did, but I guess whoever brought us here decided we didn't need them. I guess you got lucky with keeping yours." She said to him, she could vaguely make out where it was laid in the grass next to him, it was about the same length of the sword the Master had given her, due to her to-be promotion. Altair just nodded and looked away from her.

"Des?" Vea said in her childish and now slightly whining tone of voice. Desso turned to her and nodded.

"You offered earlier to go hunt. Could you do that? I'm feeling slightly hungry." Her sister said nicely. As if on queue, her sister's stomach gave a hungry growl and she blushed while Desso put a hand over her hand as she snickered a little. Desso stood up in a fluid motion and pulled down her hood and ruffled her little sister's hair a bit.

"Sure sis. I'll be back in about twenty minutes." She said and as she moved towards the dark forest. She put one hand on a tree and turned back with a ghost of a smile on her face.

"No killing the guys for food while I'm gone Vea, I'm a good hunter. I'm pretty sure I can get you something tastier than flabby human flesh." She heard her sister laugh as she walked into the forest, she was pretty sure she didn't want to hear the response of Altair or Ezio.

**...**

Desso puffed out a breath to blow most of her fringe out of her face as she walked back into the clearing with some rabbits clutched in one hand.

"Woah, you must have a second sense or something! It took you like 20 minutes to track and kill those rabbits. I mean, seriously?! Those things are hard to even grab when alive!" Vea exclaimed as she came out of the shadows.

"The exact reason why I went hunting and you didn't. I don't mind starving myself a little, but with you I'd die of hunger before you caught anything." She said seriously, with sarcasm coating her tone at the last part. At the edge of her vision Vea pouted, but she knelt down and started gutting the rabbits with one of her daggers, just like she had been taught.

Suddenly Desso shivered slightly as she felt a pair of eyes staring at her. She stopped for a moment and looked up and saw a pair of amber eyes looking at her with slight interest. They reminded her of a bird of prey, or a predator - cold and calculating. She smiled a little at him and returned to her work and finished up and put the little meat she could get from the rabbits on one of the skins, which she had carefully skinned for this purpose.

"Want to cook some of this Miss Chef? This is the part I suck at." She said as she looked up at Vea.

"Sure Des," Vea replied. Vea carefully placed a spittle ,she must have crafted when Desso went hunting, over the fire and put some of the meat on it.

"Ooh I have an idea." Vea said after about 30 seconds of silence. Usually Vea's ideas weren't that good so Desso was a little apprehensive about this one since Vea was bouncing about where she sat cross legged.

"What is it?" she asked but immediately regretted it once her sister's grin grew wider.

"A little meet and greet, y'know like speed dating except without the dating part... and actually the speedy part too." Vea gave a little giggle at the end.

Desso rolled her eyes again as she understood what Vea meant even with the contradicting part at the end.

"But basically we just say stuff about ourselves like name, age etcetera. Get to know each other while we're here."

"That sounds like a good idea." Ezio piped up and that made Vea smile all the more.

"Great!" she said without waiting for Desso or Altair's approval of the idea. "Okay so I'll start. My name is Vea Matthews and I'm nineteen." When finished with her little introduction she looked at Ezio to get him to speak.

"My name is Ezio Auditore da Firenze, as you know _bella donna _(beautiful lady), and I am eighteen. What about you _Messere _(Mister)...?"

Desso noticed that Altair didn't look too happy to have to be involved in this, his face was scowling like it seemed to almost always be but the way his eyes looked up at the sky for just a second before he spoke gave it away.

"I am Altair Ibn-L'Ahad and I am twenty-six years of age." he said in a monotone voice.

He looked at her for the briefest of moments and nodded his head in her direction to attain that it was her turn to speak.

"I'm Desso Lily and I'm 21." she said in as casual a tone as she could muster. She had mixed feelings about her last name, some people had patronised and bullied her about it in the past.

"See she has the coolest name out of all of us." Vea said, sending a knowing smile her way. Her last name was actually the reason Vea first met her properly. She had heard some of the people in the playground taunt her and after they had gone she had stayed with Desso until she was forced to go to class by her teacher. Vea had been extremely annoying, constantly talking the whole time, but she had told her she had 'the coolest name in the Universe' and that had made Desso remember her for the rest of the day desipte the headache it caused her from her nagging voice, and then somehow it evolved into their sister-like relationship.

"Some might say the coolest name ever."

"Yeah some people might, it just depends whether they are awesome or not." Desso said sending a rare smile back.

"Yay you smiled, see socialising isn't that bad!" Vea said with a large grin which made Desso roll her eyes.

"She does not smile often?" Ezio asked even though he was not looking at her.

"Oh she does sometimes, it just depends on what I do. I only have one solid way of getting her to smile."

"Oh no-" Desso started it but it was too late, her sister had already ran over and was tickling her where she knew it would get Desso to laugh. At first, she was determined not to laugh, then she started laughing as her self control just snapped under her sisters assault. She was smiling and laughing like mad until she managed to swat and push her sister away from her.

"Finished yet?" She asked as her sister moved to sit next to her.

"Maaybe!" Her sister teased as she moved to tickle her again, she shoved her sister roughly so she wouldn't try it again.

"Told you I could make her smile! She's such a sucker when I tickle her, she looks like she hates it, but she doesn't, she loves it really." Her sister said as she moved to sit where she was sat before.

"Yeah, I totally love you tickling me. I can't wait until the next time you do it." She said sarcastically. Her sister beamed at Ezio.

"See! I told you so!" She exclaimed.

"Well, that is a good method of making her smile. I wouldn't think that would be an effective method." Ezio replied, he then turned to look at her properly as her hood had come off when she had been tickled by her sister.

"You should smile more often, it makes you look more beautiful then you are currently." He said with a flirtatious smile. She rolled her eyes and kept quiet.

"I was being serious bella. You are certainly a beautiful women and your smile adds to it. You should be proud about that, not many have such natural beauty such as you." He continued.

She resisted the urge to snarl at him and kept quiet.

"Uh... Ezio... " Vea warned, she knew how she was around certain guys. Ezio just ignored her and continued to try make an 'advance' on her. He shuffled a little close to her that she could feel his breath on her face, it absolutely stinked, then she remembered he had never had a toothbrush in his time.

He casually threw an arm around her shoulders and she tensed when he did.

"Relax, ho intenzione di fare lo sai male. Sono soffice come una mosca in confronto a te, mia bella assassino ( Relax, I am going to do you know harm. I'm as soft as a fly compared to you, my beautiful assassin)." He said in both a calming and flirty tone. She couldn't understand all of it, even though she had also taken Italian with Vea, but she got some of the keywords and this time she did snarl and she spun onto her feet, dragging Ezio with her and kicked him in the stomach with as much force she could, which made him lose his grip on him and sent him staggering backwards.

She kept up her snarl and let her anger show in her tone as she watched him hunch over in pain from the power of her kick.

"Your lucky that was a kick, I usually take my time to hurt people who dare invade my personal space. That was a warning, you try touch and flirt with me again and it will be much worse." She growled as she sat down again, her sister rushed over to help him, since her mother was a medic.

She was quite brainy despite her innocent looks and managed to ease his pain a little by the looks of it and helped him sit and stayed seated by his side. Silence filled the air as Vea cooked and turned the rabbit on the spittle and she turned and gave her a subtle glare. She shrugged at her sister and looked at the fire and indirectly at the eyes of Altair. He seemed to be regarding her curiously but she thought nothing as it as she stared down at the fire properly.

The group fell into silence, the only sound being the crackle and pop of the fire and the sound of the meat sizzling as it cooked. The smell of the cooked meat was nice in the gentle breeze that surrounded them.

"Food's alllllllll done!" Vea chirped happily. She moved the spittle away from the fire and set it there to let the meat cool down a little. Desso took a close look and noticed it had shrunk a little during the cooking process.

"I don't think there's gonna be enough for everyone to eat." She observed. She watched Vea take a closer look and she noticed it as well.

"Maybe if you had taken 30 minutes and let me eat some grass then maybe there would be enough." Vea said teasingly. Desso shrugged in return.

"I'll let you all have the portions you can dish out then. I can go without food for a little while." She said back instead of sending a teasing comment back. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Altair frown and Vea was also frowning in front of her.

"My decision is final. I'll not eat. I had plenty to eat before we all woke up here. And you were the one who was hungry originally little sister. So you all eat. I can always go hunting in the morning to go catch us all some breakfast, including me." She said, putting authority into her tone.

Vea pouted at that but sighed and cut the meat with her own dagger to make sure it was cooked through before giving some to Altair and Ezio and having the rest for herself. Vea started to eat her's and looked at Desso with guilt in her eyes. Ezio was digging in as if he hadn't eaten in ages was quite possible. Altair was picking his apart since it was tender enough to do so and was consuming it slowly.

After what seemed like a few seconds, Altair stood up and moved over to her and sat down next to her and offered part of his meal. He didn't say a word, he just offered it silently. She pursed her lips at him and flicked her hand in a dismissive way. He turned so she could look him in the eye.

"You need to eat. We do not know the proper climate of this place and if it is sometimes heated like a desert you could cause yourself more harm than good if you don't eat." He said calmly. She ran her hand through the grass that was around her but still looked him in the eye.

"The animals and plants thrive so that means it's a suitable climate for humans. I do not need to eat." She back, calmly as well. One of his eyes twitched as he thought over it.

"The animals and plants may live but that does not mean the sun is any less harsh. It was quite warm today, much like my home land, and if you do not eat you could get very ill." He said and still offered her the meat. She looked him in the eyes, she knew from her lessons that he was stubborn and incredibly intelligent and she knew he probably wouldn't give this up, but she was determined not to deprive anyone of a good meal.

"I said I had eaten before I was here. I am able to take a little heat from the sun without nourishment. You all probably didn't eat so I'm letting you all eat before I do." She said firmly, fixing him with a glare and hoping he would drop it. He just glared back and turned away to eat the rest of his meal. She scooted away from him slightly, since when he had sat down initially he had sat a little too close for comfort, and settled into the silence that Vea and Ezio had fallen into.

Once they had all finished, they settled their bones and onto the same skin, and put it to the side, they decided to dispose of them later since none of them felt like taking it out into the forest in the dark, or more so, Desso wasn't allowed to do so in case there was a large predator that could possibly attack her.

Ezio moved to the opposite of her behind the fire and settled down so he was laying on his back and looking up at the stars. Vea went over to him and prodded him in the middle of his stomach to which he whacked at her hand. She laughed at him and continued to do so and dodged his attempts until they were both laughing so hard that they were nearly crying. Desso felt a little bit of her protective nature come over her as she watched them, she was going to give him bit more of a warning if he continued to flirt with her little sister. For now though, she was going to let him be, he was going to be bruised from her kick anyway. Her back was facing the forest and Altair had moved so he was sat further to her left, closer to the fire as he held his hands there.

"Do you want to call it a night guys? I think we've all had a long day. And I wouldn't be surprised if the guys got headaches since they are in the future and all." She said. Altair nodded his affirmative and laid down on his side, curling close the fire. She presumed it was routine because of the chill of desserts on a night. Ezio remained where he was.

"_Bene_ (Right.)" He said. He folded his arms under his head and seem to close his eyes, she couldn't tell really. Vea sat up from where she had been tickling and prodding him and gave Desso her puppy dog eyes. She rolled her eyes and nodded her approval before Vea laid near Ezio, not making direct contact but close to it.

Desso reached up pulled down her hood and undo her ponytail and shook her head to spread her hair out a little, it pooled around her face, and let her neck length fringe block vision. She laid down as well, close to the fire for warmth, but moved a small fraction of her fringe to the side so she could see out of one eye. The eye was to keep an eye on her sister and Ezio, but the flickering flame of the fire was in the way so she closed both of her eyes and smiled as she was surrounded by the sounds of nature and the fire, with a bit of light and heavy breathing. She felt a pair of eyes on her and she opened her eye to notice the amber gaze of Altair on her, she liked the color, amber, it was such an unusual color, but it appealed to her. She mentally shook her head at that thought. She closed her eyes fully and she felt herself drift off, with the image of two amber eyes imprinted in her minds eye.


	5. Chapter 5

**Four Paths Aligned Chapter 5**

**Vea**

For the first time in months Vea woke up naturally rather than being forced to by Desso.

Sunlight greeted her as she opened her eyes and slowly sat up, rubbing the base of her back a little as it ached from the extremely hard ground. She had gotten plenty of sleep though so she couldn't really complain.

A smile crossed her face as she saw that Ezio was still asleep beside her.

She liked making new friends and so she was really happy that it had only taken a few hours before they were acting like they had known each other for much longer. She had someone a little childish to talk to.

Sleeping next to him was nice. She was afraid of sleeping too close to Altair for fear of being killed in her sleep and she didn't want to sleep near Des in case she decided to create a new way of waking her up. Ezio was the best option she had since she needed to sleep close to someone - it gave her security to know someone she trusted was near.

"Des?" she asked, hoping she would wake up so she wouldn't be the only one up anymore. She hated being alone.

"Go away." came the sleepy but annoyed reply. The amount of times she had almost not survived waking her sister up made her decide against waking her sister up again. She didn't want to be murdered just yet. Vea pouted, she hated it when she was the only one awake, it meant she had no-one to talk to or joke with. Not to mention having nothing to do. She looked around at the woodland around her and smiled.

It actually looked really pretty when it was sunny and the trees looked very climbable.

That was it, that was all it took, just one thought and she was climbing onto the lowest branch of the nearest tree and hanging upside down from it with a giggle. This time she was glad for her sash which maintained her dignity while she did.

"What are you doing?" A gruff and slightly annoyed voice said from a little further away. Vea looked in the direction while still hanging upside down. A pair of amber eyes glowered at her.

"Hanging from a tree." Vea said innocently but that created such a fierce look that she had to look away for fear of combusting into flames otherwise.

"Get down. You are no longer a child so stop acting like one." Altair said with a tone that was definitely a warning not to anger him.

Vea didn't seem to realise that and instead just smiled as she moved her head a little so her loose hair swished about. Half a second later a throwing knife embedded in the branch next to her.

"Okay, okay geez I'll get down." she said, a little scared, as the knife was pretty close to her.

She eased herself up so she was sitting on the tree before yanking out the knife and dropping down, landing in a well practiced crouch. After plopping down on the ground next to the still asleep Ezio, the awake campers descended into an awkward and extremely tense silence.

After a few minutes of Vea fidgeting and dropping in and out of daydreams, Altair got up and walked away from her and the camp itself.

"Hey where are you going?" Vea said warily since she didn't want him to get angry again.

"It is none of your business."

"But how will I know you'll come back?" Vea asked knowing Des would kill her , maybe literally, if she didn't.

"You will not." he said bluntly back, not even bothering to face her. Vea would have asked more but he just walked off. She sighed and leaned back against the trunk of a tree and pulled her thin hair over her shoulder. She looked over at the slightly snoring Ezio and grinned.

"Ezio wake up." she said poking his cheek lightly with her index finger. The man shifted and moved his face away from her hand and mumbled something in old Italian she didn't understand. "C'mon wake up." she said not giving up and this time shook his shoulder properly.

"_Lasciami dormire per pochi minuti in più._ (Let me sleep for a few minutes more)" he mumbled quietly enough to make it difficult for Vea to hear. She just about managed it, she had taken Italian in school and had loved every second of it. She just loved the way the language sounded and the way the words would flow off of her tongue. Although he came from a different time, she could understand the basics of what he said. The words she didn't recognise she guessed she'd either forgot or were Latin.

"No." she said and she jabbed him in the ribs which made him flinch. That made her grin, now she knew where to tickle him if she ever decided to.

He groaned and finally opened his eyes to face the morning sun. When he did, she moved back to let him regain his personal space and wake up properly.

"Have a nice sleep?"

"Until you woke me yes." he said on his second attempt of getting his mouth to speak English rather than his mother tongue. Vea just gave him a cheeky grin then proceeded to put her hair up. She had a plan to pass the time and it included Ezio. "Did you bella?" he asked with a flirty smile.

Vea could barely stifle a laugh. That brought back memories of the night before when he had tried to flirt with Des. Now that she knew he was alright, she found the funny side to it.

"What is so funny?" he asked sounding confused at the reason for her barely contained laughter.

"Nothing... Hey up for a race?" Vea said enthusiastically now that Altair had gone off somewhere else.

"To where?" Ezio asked while stretching though he didn't sound like he was as keen to do it as she was.

"One lap round this clearing then to the top of this tree." she said patting the large trunk of the tree behind her. He looked at her skeptically then nodded and stood as she walked to the edge of the clearing and got ready for the early morning run. Ezio leisurely walked over to her and stood beside her, waiting for her to begin the race.

Vea smiled and counted down for them both - not cheating since she knew she would probably beat him anyway.

"3...2...1...go!" she said before she sprinted off and left him in the dust. She smirked to herself as she imagined his shocked expression. Last time she had run, she had kept pace with him to keep him company.

She was already a quarter the way up the large tree before he had even gotten to the base of it. She stopped climb and swung upside down again on the tree just to taunt him a little more.

"Ever been beaten by a girl before Ezio?"

"I have never seen a woman climb before." he said as he got to her eye level.

She looked at his eyes which were so close to hers and even let him overtake her before righting herself and taking the lead again, climbing past him to the top and sitting on a branch that was thick enough to take her weight. Nevertheless she sat as close to the trunk as possible.

"Well there's always a first time for everything." she said as she swung her legs and looked out at the dawn scenery. Though the sky was mostly pink and orange, she could see hints of blue tinting the edges of the sunset and beyond.

"That there is." he said a little glumly while balancing himself the other side of the trunk.

Vea peeked round it to look at him all the while giggling at the weird action. It was almost like she was nine again peeking around a tree in Central Park, trying to see where Des was from her hiding place.

"Don't worry, it's not that you don't have skill - you climbed the tree really well. I've just been climbing for years, a lot longer than you." Vea said a little sympathetically. She had won but she wasn't about to rub it in his face.

"And that makes me feel so much better." he said extremely sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. That made her laugh and she nearly fell out of the tree if Ezio hadn't reached out and somehow caught her by her arm. She helped pull herself back onto the branch properly with his help and her laughter stopped as she was now quite close to him.

There was a long awkward moment as they stared into each others eyes before they both burst out laughing again, even while they both made sure they were stable enough on their branches to do so.

Eventually they both calmed down, Ezio first, then Vea. Vea was aware of him looking at her strangely but she was very much used to people doing that so she really wasn't bothered at all.

"I imagine you have to train a lot when being an Assassin." he asked and Vea knew he had probably been wanting to ask that for a little while but never had the opportunity.

Vea gave a slight wince at the thought of the intensive training she had had over the years.

"Yeah we had quite a lot, especially before I started doing missions." she said trying not to groan or grumble too much though that was her instinctive response to it.

"What was it like?"

"Pretty intense though we had a variety of training to do. Altitude, stealth, free running, combat, thievery, endurance, alertness." _Seduction _she thought but didn't add -she wasn't really proud of her skills in that.

"Oh, I am skilled in some of those." Ezio said with a slight smile.

"Which ones?" she said with her curiosity appearing.

She was often curious and that lead to some awesome discoveries in her hometown, new friends or sometimes trouble but she didn't mind that - she was in it often enough anyway. Curiosity was something that had never left her and she doubted ever would.

"I like to run across and climb the buildings of Firenze and I am quite skilled in combat with my fists." he said with pride. Vea smiled again at this and swung her legs as she looked out at the scenery of trees surrounding them. They weren't high enough to see completely above the other trees but she could see small chunks of sky and land that circled the small forest. "Maybe you could teach me something else _bella_."

Vea thought this over, while trying to not smile at the last word he had said, and decided on what they could do.

"We could work on your stealth," she looked down at the ground briefly and smiled. There plenty of noisy stuff littered on the floor so it would be the perfect place to do it. "This is a good place to train, follow me!"

With that she rose to a crouched position and launched herself at a lower and slightly thicker branch, swinging slightly then propelling herself down the tree until she landed on the ground with another crouch. Briefly, she leaned against the trunk of the tree until Ezio had safely landed near her.

"The key thing about stealthiness is to be as quiet as possible, nobody can make themselves silent but we can aim to be almost that." she said in her usual bubbly, friendly voice which she found people liked and listened to more than her sister's serious and stern one. Her's was good for getting things done but it wasn't nice if you wanted to talk to people normally or keep the mood happy. She also didn't want to bore Ezio to death so she tried to keep what she said as short as possible.

"You just have to look around and anything that would give you away."

"That seems simple enough." Ezio said but as soon he moved the large crack echoed around them. Vea lifted a hand to her mouth so she could at least try to hide the giggle that escaped her lips.

"It's easier said than done isn't it?" Vea said when she'd stopped after blushing as he looked at her with a mixture of slight offence and slight amusement. She gave him a smile that melted the offence and only left the amusement.

"So it seems."

"As well as looking around the way you use your feet is different too. You have to put more weight on the balls of your feet. Especially on the foot that has already been placed." Vea showed this technique to him and then helped him try and perfect it.

...

It took a while but Ezio finally mastered walked as quietly as possible on the slightly damp forest floor. He walked around with his newly perfected technique with pride while Vea smiled and even applauded when he did.

Usually she would have lost focus after a few minutes of watching him concentrate and do this but she didn't. She even enjoyed it, he had become a friend in the space of only a few hours the night before. He was friendlier than her sister and Altair and he had laughed along with her too which was nice since her sister rarely did that - no matter how hard she tried to get her to.

"That try was perfect!" she said clapping her hands together with a grin after he had finished this try. "But we need to test you to see how you do in a real life situation... oh I know! Follow me." she said after a plan formed in her head. She lead him back to the edge of the camp, in which Altair still wasn't present, and stopped him there.

"Your goal is to walk over to Des and back without waking her. Ooh I should note she's a light sleeper, good luck!" she said with added cheeriness as Ezio groaned and looked at her pleadingly.

"You would happily have march me to my death after only an hour's practice?" he said looking over at the sleeping Assassin warily. Vea knew he was probably thinking over what she had done to him the night before.

"You won't march, that would be stupid, you'll tiptoe over and back and win my little challenge." she said, trying to encourage him as she gave him a little shove in Des' direction. He stumbled but Vea watched as he took on her task despite his nerves.

She watched his every move while wishing with everything she had that he would make it - she had tried to wake her sister up before and it had not ended well.

He froze when Desso yawned and turned over but resumed when he must have figured out she was still asleep, his footsteps were now slower though as he became more wary.

_He can totally do this!_

A few moments later her sister yawned again and mumbled something that didn't seem to be any proper language - she just called it Des-speak. Both her and Ezio seemed to be trying not to laugh at it as she could see his body tense a little in front of her.

"Shut up!" Desso said, though Vea could tell she was still sleeping.

Ezio froze again and though Vea could tell she was asleep Ezio obviously couldn't and now looked a little scared.

"It's alright," she whispered in encouragement while coming closer herself. "She's still asleep. You're doing great, you're almost there!"

Ezio glanced back at her with his widened brown eyes and shook his head, taking a step back and landed his foot right on a twig.

Vea gasped and covered her mouth with both of her hands as Desso was instantly awake.

"Wrong move Templar!" she spat half awake as she pinned Ezio to the floor, blade on his throat.

Vea immediately shot over, grabbing her sister's wrist and wrenching it away from Ezio.

"Des wake up, it's just Ezio!"

Luckily her sister became fully awake and finally registered what she was doing. She immediately moved off of Ezio and sheathed her blade.

"Sorry!" she said, a little shocked, as she offered Ezio a hand to help him up. He accepted and Vea watched as he brushed himself off. Her sister looked around momentarily before she looked Vea in the eye.

"Where's Altair?" Desso finally asked the question she was dreading. She had really hoped she wouldn't noticed the quiet Assassin's absence.

"I don't know, he just wandered off earlier. He didn't say if he was going to come back either." She said as quickly as possible hoping her sister couldn't understand it all. As usual she was wrong.

"You just happened to let him go, in a random place where even we don't even know where we are, alone?" Her sister said calmly, it made her seem even more angry but the glare would have given it away anyway.

"Yes?" She squeaked. Her sister sighed and shook her head but didn't reply.

"We don't really know him, besides he is an Assassin like you two. I think he could handle himself." Ezio added casually.

"He may be an Assassin, but he isn't aware of the great changes between our century and his, neither are you. It wouldn't be wise for either of you to walk around until we've had that talk. Which Vea and I were going to give you later today." She said sternly.

"Were we?" Stupidly Vea said this and made her sister notice her again. The glare she got almost rivaled Altair's.

"Yes we were before you let him just wander off!"

"I did, in no way wander off. I merely went to explore the rest of this forest and spend time away from this childish woman who you seem to keep as your sister." Altair said, sending Vea a glare before turning his attention back to Desso. He held up his canteen before speaking again. "I found a source of water as well."

Vea's jaw dropped open as she had honestly thought he'd run off without a second glance back. The fact that Vea had been right not to push him amazed her the most and it seemed to amaze Desso too since she was speechless for once.

"See?" she said with smugness obvious in her tone - once she had managed to stop her jaw hitting the floor that is.

Des looked as if she was about to explode but then just gave the tiniest shake of her head and carried on as normal.

Typical Des, Vea thought with a slight smile. She felt the urge to laugh but realised she'd probably be murdered if she did so just swallowed the urge and just fiddled with some leaves by her side on the ground instead, tearing them apart with her fingers. She looked down at them for a minute or so before looking up and realising everyone was looking bored and awkward. She hated that, hated people feeling so down or bored, she'd only be satisfied if everyone was relaxed and (or sometimes or) happy.

"Des?" Vea asked curiously, hoping to change the mood.

"What?" her sister asked in a rather annoyed tone.

"Do you mind helping me for a little while? It's just that I was going to go through some pickpocketing techniques with Ezio but I need another volunteer to demonstrate with. I'm kinda stuck without you unless Altair wants to volunteer?"

Altair just glared at her liked he seemed to do a lot now.

"I'd rather not." was all he said after finishing drinking what Vea guessed was his newly collected water.

"Please?" Vea asked her sister since Altair was a definite no. She wanted to do puppy dog eyes but she knew full well that Des was immune to that. "You do that technique better than I can and you're good at explaining too."

Vea knew Des was fully aware that she was sucking up to her but it still made a little half smile appear on her face.

"Fine."

"Yay!" Immediately Vea sprung up from where she had sat down and ran off in a random direction between the trees. "Follow me you two, and Altair if you want!"

A few minutes later Ezio was standing before Vea and her sister (minus Altair who obviously didn't want to be there, although Des said he had not run off this time) while Des explained how to do the technique without being heard or felt by the intended victim.

"The main thing is to keep in synchronisation and slip out the object using the person's momentum rather than tugging the object you are trying to retrieve, you should only pull on it if you need to and use very little force." her sister said with the stern but clear voice she always used in times like that. Vea had heard it a lot though it was usually because she was getting told off or being told to correct her techniques. "Vea and I will do a demonstration."

Vea had just about taken off her dagger sheathe and rearranged it in an accessible position when her sister shoved her and told her to get moving. She did and walked briskly as if she had an important thing to do. She had no way of knowing but she was sure her sister was following. She didn't look back otherwise that would spoil the demonstration.

"You can come back now." her sister said holding Vea's dagger loosely in one of her hands. Vea did though it was more of a skip than a walk, she was happy and felt the need to skip so she did even when her sister rolled her eyes at her and Ezio gave her a strange look.

"What?" she asked innocently after she came to a stop. Ezio gave a chuckle and her sister just sighed as she gave a grin.

"Anyway," her sister continued. "now it's your turn Ezio."

Ezio's grin brightened a little.

"I have another different technique... if I may?" he said and the way he phrased it made him sound like an old gentleman. Vea gave a small smile and took her dagger back from her sister.

"Of course." she said replacing it in her sheath and turning to walk again. A few seconds later she heard Ezio begin to walk normally behind her which made her curious.

_What is he up to?_

"Excuse me signora?" came the smooth and charming voice from behind her which caught her completely by surprise. She had to turn to him and keep up the pretence.

"Yes?"

"Do you know where the church is?" he asked and obviously he using the pretence of being in a street. She had no idea why but her thoughts went a little off track when he slowly stepped towards her. She made the mistake of looking at his eyes and found herself getting distracted further, she had to think before she could reply.

"It is that way." she said pointing to a random direction before turning to go as if she had to continue.

"Wait!" he said while reaching out and taking her hand. Even that small touch made her distracted again and made her skin tingle a little. She had no idea what was going on but to be honest she didn't really have the brain power at that time to think much about it.

She did, however, notice Des wander away and so assumed she was bored.

"What is such an intelligent and beautiful lady doing out so late at night?"

She managed not to blush at that and gently took her hand out of his and stopped herself from smiling.

"I have something important that must be done." she said before turning to walk again.

"Are you sure?" came the deep purr from behind her as an arm hooked around her and forced her extremely close to him.

"I..." she trailed off as he looked down at her with his deep chocolate eyes. That one word was all her brain could manage before it went completely blank. His charming smile made it even harder for her to gather her thoughts enough to say something in English or even remotely understandable.

"So your schedule is free?" he said, still in a seductive tone.

"Maybe..." was all Vea's flustered head could manage to conjure up. She had the feeling that she should be doing something but she couldn't quite remember what it was. His smile grew wider as he leant down to her and her heart pounded as her mind screamed at her about what was going to happen and that she should run. Although that was an instinct she was rooted to the spot and could only watch his lips reach down to hers before her eyes closed and they made contact. Vea had kissed people before but it had never felt anything like that one long moment.

Usually she was able to think and was just waiting for the moment that warm, moist flesh would be away from her face and instead cold from her blade. This felt completely opposite and the single thought that filled her mind was that she didn't want his lips to leave hers at all.

She felt her cheeks begin to flush as she felt the gentlest sensation of someone moving her hair out of her face. It was something she had only seen in those sappy rom-coms that always made her cry out of the sheer cuteness.

All too soon she needed breath and so pulled her lips from his and stepped out of his arms and walked off as if she had just remembered what she had needed to do - which in truth was not all acting. She did notice her dagger was gone and that made her smirk.

"Nice strategy," she told him, turning and grinning at him once her cheeks were back to normal and she had gathered her thoughts. "but you probably won't be after women as much so you will need to perfect the other way too."

"But that was fun." he complained as he handed her her dagger back.

_I know._ she thought before going through the other way with him.

**{Dessoestma: Ezio's and Vea's first kiss! How adorable, but under weird circumstances :P}**


	6. Chapter 6

**Four Paths Aligned Chapter 6**

Ezio

Eventually, he managed to learn the original technique. He wasn't perfect, but Vea said it would do if he ever needed to do anything of the sort. He knew he would be better with more practice but it still frustrated him that these women were better at him at seemingly everything so far. Climbing, running, stealth. It just frustrated him to no end.

After a little while, they both stopped since he was quite adequate at it and they started to walk back to the clearing. It was quite a bit away from where they were so they decided to spend it talking.

"So the 15th century, what was it like?" Vea asked curiously. He thought over it as he ducked under a tree branch.

"I am not sure how to describe it," He said with a shrug. "it was normal for me, but it would be very different for you since you have such advanced technology like that black... thing you used earlier."

"Oh you mean the earpiece!" She said as she messed with the object in question since it was in her pocket.

"Since you asked a question, do I get to?" He asked after a brief moment of comfortable silence, if she was going to ask questions why not ask some in response?

She shrugged at him.

"If you want, I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"How did you befriend such a person like Desso? She's quite quiet and strict and doesn't seem like a person open to friendship. It seems like an impossible task to befriend her." He said in a little bit of awe in his voice.

He couldn't even get close to her and no one, _no one _ever resisted his charms. At the time Vea seemed to have fallen under them slightly, given he hadn't got a violent reaction out of her of any sort when he kissed her. Now he was not so sure that her reaction was real, maybe just part of the acting that had gone on.

"She's not a very social person, I'm really her only true friend even though she'd never admit it. She was getting bullied and I so happened to have seen it and comforted and generally annoyed the hell out of her. Then our friendship just evolved from that. The annoying girl and the quiet girl, we make a good team too. I also like doing 'impossible' tasks." She said, with a shrug and a small smile while tugging on a low branch she couldn't duck under. She let it snap back when she walked past it and it hit him right on his stomach and he winced as it knocked the wind out of him a little.

He glared at her since she wasn't looking and did the same thing, except no one was behind him to receive it in the stomach like he had.

"My turn for a question then. What did you, uh, meanbythatkissyougaveme?" She blurted out very quickly and rather quietly compared to her normal voice. He looked at her with a confused expression.

"_Mi scusi_? (Excuse me?) I cannot understand you when you speak like that..." He said with uncertainty as he didn't want to offend her.

"Oh right... I said 'What did you, uh, mean by that kiss you gave me earlier?" She said unsurely, like she was even unsure about her own question.

He tilted his head a little at her and grabbed her wrist as they both stopped walking.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked curiously.

"Did it mean anything?" She insisted, he just have her a blank, confused look since he didn't understand what she was getting at.

_A kiss is a kiss, isn't it?_

"Did it?" She asked again, he gave another confused look. He heard her sigh and she leaned against the closest tree. Then she looked at him briefly then up at the branch above her. She then jumped all of a sudden, her wrist moving out of his grip.

"Shit, sorry. That was modern slang wasn't it?" She said to herself more than him as she placed a hand to her chest. He raised an eyebrow at her and she did the same but continued.

"What I meant was... did the kiss mean you like me or anything? It's what people do in our society to tell other people we like them." She said after a moment of silence. He gave her a blank stare before smiling a little.

"I do have to admit that I find your looks very appealing and your personality and behavior is quite intriguing to me." He said with a smile after a moment of deliberation.

Looking up at her, he could see her eyebrows furrow for a millisecond before her expression changed and her face displayed her usual smiling and contented look.

"Right, okay." was all she said before she carried on walking again.

They both continued to walk until they were back at the clearing where they both noticed that the quieter Assassins weren't there.

_How strange, I thought at least Desso might be here, _Ezio thought.

"Where do you think they went?" He asked aloud to Vea.

"I have no idea, maybe Des went hunting and Altair went to join her?" She suggested and he shrugged in response.

"Maybe." He answered simply.

"We should stay around here 'til they get back, I know Des will definitely come back, so we should do something to kill the time while we wait."

"What do you suggest?"

Vea pondered this for a moment before a childish look appeared on her face.

"Tag, you're it! Come and catch me!" she said after slapping his arm once with a grin then running off. Ezio stood still for a moment before he chased after her, a grin spreading across his own face.

After they had finished their little game, Ezio noticed that Desso was stood in the trees near them both, looking at them very unamused. He could also faintly make out Altair stood behind her, looking equally unamused. Vea turned to look at them both when she noticed him looking and she turned back to him with a big smile on her face.

"Are you seeing double or is it just me?" She joked loudly enough for them to hear it. He looked at her and answered with hesitation since he didn't want to get hit by her sister again.

"It seems so, they even have the same angry glare." He said slowly. Vea rolled her eyes.

"That's not anger, it's happiness that we were being immature!" She exclaimed happily. He chuckled quietly at her behavior before Desso walked into the clearing properly.

"That isn't funny Vea." She said angrily.

"Oh c'mon! You gotta admit you both have the same angry personality, and what were you both doing standing there like you were stalking us?" Vea asked playfully, seemingly unaware of her sister's anger. He wouldn't be surprised if Desso hit her but she didn't.

"He was showing me where the river was so I can lead you two there later. Now both of you sit down." She said sternly.

He saw a strange look cross on Vea's face that looked like defiance but before she could say something Desso beat her to it.

"Don't even think about it! Get your ass over there by the fire so we can give these two the talk. We can either travel to find a city today or tomorrow and I'd rather have these guys semi-prepared than not at all." She said sharply and gestured towards the burnt out fire.

Ezio swiftly moved over to the fire and sat where had he had done before, he didn't ever want to anger her at all.

Vea gave her sister a cheeky smile and another angry look before skipping over to where he was sat. She sat down next to him but kept the smile and energy and he liked it, it felt nice to sit next to someone bouncy with energy. It reminded him of how his little brother would act sometimes. He then felt slightly saddened at the thought.

_Did his family miss him? Did they even know where he was? Would they even search for him?_

He couldn't answer these questions so he decided to ignore them for now and focus on Desso since she had begun to talk.

"-re going to talk about how the centuries have changed between yours and ours. So you both listen up and you can call us both crazy and ask questions when we're done."


End file.
